Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Outperform Rating for Block (NYSE:SQ)

Block (NYSE:SQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $88.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.85% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on SQ. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. New Street Research started coverage on Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Block Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of SQ opened at $72.82 on Monday. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.74 and its 200-day moving average is $67.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market cap of $44.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.89, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its holdings in Block by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Block by 1,061.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Block by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Company Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.